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The South African Minister of Public Enterprises, Lynne Brown, has ordered a deep dive independent investigation into Eskom’s affairs over for the past ten years, as well as several short-term investigations by the new Eskom interim board.

Opening the POWER-GEN & DistribuTECH Africa power sector stakeholder forum in Sandton, Johannesburg today 18 July 2017, Brown says it is a fact that Eskom’s operational performance has significantly improved, but the company has also been embroiled in a series of serious allegations of maladministration and corruption.

“None of the allegations have been proven in a court of law yet, but they have fundamentally eroded integrity. Certain matters are now in court and I am constrained to say more about them,” says Brown.

“But let me say as the shareholder representative, I have recently had reason to question the veracity of some of the answers that I have been given. I therefore instituted various measures, including changing the board, and establishing a deep dive investigation to be conducted by South Africa’s official investigation unit into all the allegations of impropriety that have surfaced at Eskom over the past ten years.”

“I have also asked the new interim board of Eskom to conduct certain short term investigations of their own and report to me with recommendations. There will be more announcements in this regard in due course about Eskom and other state-owned entities in my department’s portfolio,” she adds.

She notes that the government and ruling party had agreed on the necessity for further investigations.

Eskom’s new Interim Chairman, Zethembe Khoza, also addressed the opening session of the summit, noting that Eskom made a crucial contribution to South Africa’s GDP and to job creation.

He committed to Eskom’s goals of working towards a low-carbon future and achieving affordable and reliable power for all.